April 11th 2012 session

• • April 11, 2012 Session
    I would like to welcome Mellina Licupa to The Broadmoor Book club. We are happy to have you in our group!!!!The session started with Varsha by giving us a brief summary of the first story, “THE CHINESE STATUE”. http://ncetianz.webs.com/Novels/JEFFREY%20%20ARCHER%20COLLECTION/A%20Quiver%20Full%20Of%20Arrows.pdf
    (I know I should have searched for this link before, it would have been helpful!!!)
    She had got the chance to read the book almost 19 years ago and still remembers the book for its lovely short stories and sudden, surprising twist at the end of each story which almost appears only at the end of the last paragraph of the story. She really loved the book. She couldn’t stop at just the first two stories. The statue which was assumed to be so precious and was passed through the family from generations to generations, at the end turned out to be a fake and fetched only seven hundred and odd pounds while the base, which the old craftsman had randomly attached, was far more precious and fetched 30 times more value than the statue itself. I loved her symbolic perception of that part of the story in relation with our lives. How the little insignificant things or people or aspects of our lives actually end up being of the most value……….and how we misjudge them……and how the things we think is so important turns out to be so futile. She felt that this was a good example of how we must not judge the book by its cover!!
    Seema gave us an interesting summary of the second story,” THE LUNCHEON”. She felt the writer was pretentious and he could have just handled the whole situation more honestly and that there was no need to withdraw all their savings and spend it on a luncheon not to mention keeping this entire secret from his wife. This thought got all of us brainstorming on why he would take another woman out on a lunch when he had a wife……..and he did all of that because he was expecting the lady would recommend his story to her husband who he thought was the film producer and eventually the producer would make a movie based on his book, was the idea behind the luncheon……….and may be if all his intentions would have turned out the way he had planned he would have really struck gold!!!But unfortunately it did not work out.Seema also remembered about an incident. Many years ago one of her friend owed her Rs.50 which she which disturbed her a lot which got her thinking that maybe she owed someone else money and may have forgotten and that it must be bothering them too. She also said there is no shame in asking back something which is yours……..and that they should return without reminders in the first place!!!!But she also agrees that there are many people who feel odd to ask back money or something else a friend borrowed from them. She feels if you feel uncomfortable to ask somebody the stuff they borrowed from you then you should forget about it and not let it bother you. Either ask or if you cannot ask then forget about it.Very true!!!
    Gayathri found the first story interesting. She feels it’s very important to return the favors we have received like how it’s mentioned in the story that Sir Alexander returned the favor by building a small white house for the craftsman which was equivalent to the estimated cost of the statue the craftsman had gifted. She also found that it was very generous of the craftsman to gift the statue to the Ambassador, Sir Alexander.Varsha felt that sometimes you cannot return intangible things like knowledge, love etc. we have received from our parents, teachers or mentors or people we meet, but we just simply pay it forward.Gayathri loved the thought and agreed with it but she also feels it’s important to remember everybody who has helped you in life and return the same whenever you get a chance.
    She also felt that money matters are very important and it can cause displease between relationships. She also likes Sneha’s thought of not giving greeting cards to anybody.Sneha feels that she loves to treasure greeting cards or special invitations etc. she has received from friends, but the lack of storage space forces people to throughout all these stuff out which is heartbreaking. She is very sentimental about it but feels that not everybody feels the same. So it’s better not to give greeting cards.Gayathri also likes the ideas.
    I remembered the gist of the first story but found it hard to keep up with the names. I also was surprised to find out from Seema and Varsha the implication that the mandarin and the old craftsman had cheated the Ambassador by handing him the fake statue. I liked the author’s style of writing in the second story. I could relate to the writer’s plight during the luncheon. I feel money matters is very important not matter how small the amount may be. If you have borrowed money it’s important to return it as soon as possible.
    Last time Seema put forward an interesting question……If you were to have a sixth power or sense what would it be?
    Some of the people did not get a chance to respond last time. Sneha told that she would like to have the power to be taller and that all her life she had wanted to couple inches taller and that she would definetly, given a chance, use the power to make her lifetime dream possible!!!!Mellina told that she had just finished her shift and that she felt drained and that almost wanted to sleep instead of coming to the bookclub.But last minute she changed her mind and decided to come and feels energized after she attended it.We are so glad you came!!!So if given a choice she would choose the power to have more energy. And I changed my mind about not wanting any power from my last session…….feel a little foolish after making the epiphany speech!!!!I would love to have the power to control my anger and mood or rather not want to be angry or have a bad mood would be better way of putting it!!!!
    I totally enjoyed the session. I hope you all did. Have a wonderful weekend!!!As usual looking forward to our next session…………….till then take care!!!Happy reading!!!
  • http://ncetianz.webs.com/Novels/JEFFREY%20%20ARCHER%20COLLECTION/A%20Quiver%20Full%20Of%20Arrows.pdf

    ncetianz.webs.com